CADENCE Balloon Shunt
Technology description
CADENCE is a novel, patented treatment platform that functions to alter cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow, increase cerebral blood flow (CBF), and modulate the intracranial pressure (ICP) wave through natural cardiac-induced dynamics. CADENCE can be visualized as an intra-aortic balloon pump for the brain and therefore functionally very distinct from a CSF shunt. For patients with hydrocephalus, the current method of passive shunting drains CSF and reduces ICP, but it does not directly address CBF. CADENCE’s ability to alter CSF flow, increase CBF, and modulate ICP addresses clinical unmet needs that passive shunting cannot address. As an entry point for potentially treating a vast array of diseases associated with increased levels of CSF the inventors have shown preliminary proof-of-concept that the CADENCE system can actively and controllably improve CSF pressure pulsation and CBF in NPH animal models and normal brains.